Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-16

rily set aside the law, ignore the testimony
and stifle the obligations of the jurors
oath. The Tribune cites as a striking in
stance of the logged stubbornness of Jurors,
that the State law intended for the di-
vorce of the dram-shop and the State Uni
versity is dead letter and byword" In
white heat our contemporary exclaims :
The lie OF the witness. though thrice substan-
t'ated and backed by glittering sophistry, may
be combatted With the hard and naked truth
Society has some defense, albeit frail, against
the crushing of the club But the perjury of
the jury-box- that is the insidious, crawling.
cowardly enemy, which "stalke,h in darkness
and against which the community is powerless
and undefended. Here lie is lie in its last
broglio of degradation. 1t is beneath contempt.
1t is beneath the crime which it defends. 1t
passes human condemnation and takes hold
upon hell. 1t has not even the negative merit
and pyrotechnic audacity of the ''lie direct,
with which witness cloaks his own sin or
covers anothers disgrace. II hides behind
numbers and stabs i'll the back Invisible be-
meath the secret ballot, 1t spews out poison
vitiating at once the atmosphere of belief and
the waters of reason.
But the indignation of our contempt
rarv should be directed against society. 1t
makes the bad juror what he is. 1t has so
often applauded him in wrong-doing so
frequently acquieseed, with unconcealed
satisfaction, in his willful disregard of the
essentials of true verdict, that it is prac-
tically estopped from refusing the distaste-
full medicine the jury sometimes admins
tiers. In avenging the ruthless invasion Of
the family circle men frequently take the
law into their own hands, visiting judg-
ment and execution upon the offenders
The voice of society applauds, and the
jury in obedience disgards its obliga-
tions to the law. And this is the very
beginning Of lawlessness, the genesis of the
rule OF violence, the birth of defiance to the
civilized methods by which society secures
men in their rights. But when administers
tors of the solemn trust thus encouraged
to defy the law and bring it into contempt,
pursue like arbitrary courses in cases
where society demands the enforcement of
legal penalties, and refuses to apply them,
the social depths are stirred and vials of
wrath opened, such as our contemporary
pourS out upon liars in the jury box. The
truth is in the face of the law the Offend
ing jury is no more blameworthy in the
one than in the other case In both the
lie is the same, and in each the jury made
law puts the law of the land underfoot.
At all times and under all conditions So
ciety, the community, is responsible for
"the liar in the jury-box." He is the le-
Ultimate product of vitiated taste, pub
lie disregard for the obligations of the
oath, and the public teaching that meth
DDS other than those nominated by the
written law of the land may be employed
to redress wrongs or enforce rights. The
liar in the jury-box" will remain there
Just as long as men in the social compact
create the demand for him, and decline to
apply the remedies for the i'll that makes
him possible. When the law, representing
the deliberate voice of the people, is under
all circumstances made the foremost con-
sideration when its observance is held to
be a sacred duty and the security for all
rights. and its violation is regarded with
adherence and as an assault upon the So
cial fabric, no matter how inconsequential,
the verdicts of juries will approach exact
justice, and the liar" disappear from the
jury-box and the mob from society.